Our light and power
Have nothing
To do with the
Shape of our bodies
That house us.
Melody Godfred ~ Self Love Poetry
Writing about body image, society’s ideals of beauty, and health is hard. Like many people, I have struggled with body image, and my relationship with food and exercise. My mental health journey is interwoven in this narrative.
On the one hand, I am deeply critical of the media’s obsession with thinness and appearance. I see patriarchy and consumerism as influencing this cultural obsession. Not only does it undermine self-esteem and self-confidence, it also feeds competition over how we look with other people. I can recall many times when friends lost weight or talked about losing weight, feeling deflated. I suddenly felt less than. In a way, our bodies have become a commodity. When we are closer to the cultural idea, it gives us a certain power and belonging.
I recently saw a fitness ad on YouTube where the woman is talking about how wall pilates made her body so awesome that her husband would never have a reason to leave her. As if having this perfectly sculpted body is the most important thing about her and that she needs it to keep her husband’s love. It made me both sad and angry. And yet…
I usually feel better when I am more fit and am feeling good about my weight. Health is very important to my overall wellbeing and mental health. This includes eating well and exercising. It includes working on my fitness level to care for my body. Health is an important value to me and to many people. When I exercise and eat well, I feel stronger, more flexible and toned and this boosts my self-esteem.
How do we balance being body positive and challenging norms around the “ideal” body while taking care of our own body and enjoying and participating in health? How do we know the line between taking care of our bodies and enjoying our style and appearance and behaviours motivated from insecurity or body-hate? I think these answers are personal and something that is important to reflect on because they can have far reaching consequences in our lives.
The general statistics of eating disorders in Canada give us a sense of the magnitude of the body image issue. Eating disorders don’t come just from societal perspectives but our society’s obsession with thinness is a significant contributor (The BetterHelp Editorial Team, 2025). According to Statistics Canada research taking from 2013 to 2016, at any particular time, between 600,000 and 990,000 Canadians fit diagnostic criteria for eating disorders (Eatwell Blog, n.d.). About 80% of eating disorder patients are women (Eatwell Blog, n.d.). About 25% of women with healthy weight view themselves as obese (Eatwell Blog, n.d.).
The research article, “Re-shaping Body Image: Tape Sculptures as Arts-Based Social Justice,” explores the relationship to societal norms and body image:
“Body image ideals, such as size and shape, are rooted in cultural values. Implicit and explicit messages regarding body image and idealized shape are encountered daily. Mainstream advertising in many Western cultures promotes the dominant narrative of a culture of dieting whereby thinness and happiness are intrinsically linked. Idealized bodies featured in the media can lead to increased body dissatisfaction in men, women, and those who do not subscribe to gender binary tropes” (Yamamiya, Cash, Melnyk, Posavac, & Posavac, 2005).
My own story with body image begins as a child with an incident that led me to become body self-conscious and have a feeling of wanting to hide my body. As I grew into puberty and my body shifted, I remember feeling too big despite being a healthy weight.
As I have mentioned my mental health and body image are closely connected. After a lengthy hospital stay when I was nineteen, a psychiatrist put me on a weight gaining antipsychotic, and I gained ten sizes in approximately four months. There was no information about how to manage weight on medications or any guidance to reduce or try another drug. When I realized how much weight I had gained when I weighed myself at the pool one day, I took matters into my own hands. I went off my medication cold turkey (this is not something I recommend as it potentially has dangerous weithdrawal effects). I started biking and running long distances. I went as far as training for a mini triathlon, in which I started to lose the weight. It was a summer of fun but also extremes. That September I had an episode that would last many months.
For the last twenty-five years, my weight has gone up and down. Whenever I am depressed, I gain more weight. Whenever I am in psychosis, I loss weight. I also have participated in diets, and exercising heavily to lose weight but it is hard to maintain this control and strictness.
It is hard for me not to feel anger, shame, and sadness for the lost of a body that fit into societal norms even when I really want to expand my definition of beauty and challenge these norms.
Since we are being honest here, my body dysmorphia is a daily challenge to manage. I literally put reminders on my mirror to help me to counteract my negative thinking patterns.
I think it is good to write this because we all tend to have things about our body we don’t like. Most of us engage in behaviours to control our weight. It is so important to understand what influences our beliefs about our own body. I love it when people challenge society’s narrow definition of beauty because it allows us to see beyond what we have conditioned to see as attractive and be inclusive of all body shapes, and the diversity of beauty on this planet.
I see the beauty in others even when they don’t fit the cultural mode of being beautiful. I like diverse body shapes, and fashions. However, on some level, I am always chasing a body that I had. It takes effort and creativity to really challenge this.
I am angry that our society has creating this perception of what we should be, and how we should look because it causes a lot of suffering. Creativity has always been a tool when I explore how I feel about my body, especially in relationship to our cultural messages. I completed an art work titled “The Eyes of Patriarchy,” including photos of myself reflecting how I respond to the feeling of being watched and monitored by society.
The Balance Awakening Blog, talks about how art therapy can be helpful with body image: “Art therapy can allow one to reflect on the ways in which they have been impacted since childhood, see what parts of themselves are holding these self critical thoughts, and create images that reflect this along with images that are positive and self-affirming, and focused on embodiment (Vichi, R., 2024).
I think of embodiment of the body as the feeling of being in the body instead of looking at the body. Feeling the joy of movement, of rest, and of eating rather than controlling behavior coming from self-judgements.
Art therapy can help a person struggling to develop a nurturing rather than critical voice, being present in their body, challenge dominant messages in the media, and also to learn how to heal shame (Vichi, 2024).
Okay, are you ready to dive into making some art?🎨
Therapeutic Arts Activity
Create a collage that explores your thoughts and feelings about your body and messages about body image in your family, and in your culture.
Instructions
Cut out words and images from magazines (or print some from the computer). Arrange, cut, and paste to a piece of construction paper.
Materials Needed
- Construction paper
- Glue
- Scissors
- Magazine photos
Once you’ve completed this activity, here are some questions as guidelines for your personal explorations:
1. How do you feel about your body?
2. What does health mean to you?
3. Can you find connections between how you feel about your body and your mental health? For example, do you feel anxious if you don’t exercise everyday?
4. If you struggle with body image, what are some healthy strategies for lessening its impact on you?
In this collage, it is interesting how I created a attractive aesthetic while challenging notions of thinness as an ideal. It reveals my conflicting values about beauty and challenging society’s obession with thinness. There is also something here about how nature and wildness are antidotes for the messages of our bodies as commodities in our culture. There is freedom in having a voice, in being with nature, and in practicing self-love towards our bodies.
If you feel reflecting on body image is a painful experience, you are are not alone. Please seek support of caring people, affirming books, and your creativity to bring self-compassion to how you feel about your body.
❤️❤️❤️ With care and kindness, Meegan
In the spirit of creating a community of reflection and art making, your comments are welcome. If you choose to leave a comment, it is important to know I respect your privacy. Your information will not be given, lent, rented, or sold to anyone. However, when making a comment on the site, your IP address and browser user will be collected. Please see full Privacy details on my Privacy Policy Page Privacy Policy. If you are having a mental health emergency, please take care of yourself, and call 911 or take yourself to emergency at your closest hospital.
Sources
Amanda Bechtel, Laura L. Wood, Laura Teoli, Re-shaping body image: Tape sculptures as arts-based social justice, The Arts in Psychotherapy,Volume 68,2020,101615,ISSN 0197-4556,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2019.101615.(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0197455619301832)
Eatwell Blog. Eating Disorder Facts and Canadian Statistics Eating Disorders in Canada – Statistics and Facts
The BetterHelp Editorial Team (February 28th, 2025). Body Image and Eating Disorder Treatment: Managing Food Intake and Addressing Weight Loss pressures. Eating Disorders And Societal Pressure: Understanding The Connection | BetterHelp
Vichi, Rebecca. (December, 2024). How to Improve Your Body Image: Art Therapy Activities. How to Improve Your Body Image: Art Therapy Activities
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